00 – London Prologue

Fine conditions greeted the opening day of the 94th Tour de France. The first of the 189 riders to start was Degano (BAR) who began the 7.9km time trial at 3.00pm. The Mayor of London Ken Livingstone joined the Mayor of Paris Bertrand Delanoe and Tour director Christian Pruhomme to signal the official start of the 2007 race. _ _ The first rider to finish with an average speed over 50km/h was Bonnet (C.A). He led until Astarloza (EUS) finished. One incident during the early phase was a crash by O’Grady (CSC); he was the 40th rider to start and he led at the first check but then clipped a barrier with his pedal on a turn, forcing him to lose control of his bike and crash heavily. The next men to set the standard were Zabriskie (CSC), Karpets (GCE), Gusev (DSC)... but it was Kloden (AST) who really set the course alight with a phenomenal ride. At the 4.5km mark he was eight seconds better than his rivals. Not even local knowledge could help Bradley Wiggins who finished the time trial 10” slower than Kloden and 23” behind the world champion, Fabian Cancellara. _ _ At 7.9km it was a fairly long prologue course but it took in some of London's most famous landmarks. The crowds were out in force to cheer on the local stars, Wiggins and David Millar. But neither had an answer to the power of Cancellara who finished the race in the third fastest average speed for a prologue in the history of the Tour. Only Chris Boardman's 55.152km/h on the 7.2km course in Lille (in 1994) and 54.193km/h on the 5.6km Dublin course (in 1998) are faster than what the time trial world champion achieved today.